Best factory 45-70 ammo? - Federal/Hornady/Barnes

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Warden70

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Out of the 3 which is the best (experienced shooters please)?

Federal Premium, Trophy Bonded Bear Claw 300 gr.
Hornday Leverevolution GMX 250 gr.
Barnes Vor-Tx TSX Flat nose 300 gr.

My gut tells me the Federal load is most likely the best for all-around use. All shots inside 100 yrds. Deer and moose.
 
Realistically, all 3 will kill a moose or deer equally if you do your part. Im a fan of the TBBC bullet. Stout bullet. Ive also used the TSX and had great results and was happy with bullet performance. I have alot of the factory leverevolution ammo for plinking on account of the price, BUT the Hornady brass is trimmed shorter so I dont use it for full house hunting handloads. If you dont reload then by all means the Hornady ammo would be good choice too.
All 3 bullets are proven performers that will let the light into a moose boiler room! Buy whatever your guns shoots best! Then go by availability then price.
 
All of those are significantly overkill for deer. You can use less expensive ammo and get the job done. They're all somewhat overkill for moose as well. A regular JHP will take down any deer or moose I've seen or heard of within 100yds. If you want to use premium ammo, that's your choice, I'm just saying you generally don't need to spend the extra money for deer or moose.

Personally, Hornady 45-70 ammo always seems the most accurate in both my guide gun and H&R buffalo classic.

There was a lot of scuttlebut online a year or so ago when Federal discontinued the TBBC as a component bullet for reloading. Many people said it was replaced in the loaded ammo as well with a cheaper bullet but they kept the name for the factory loadings because it had such a good reputation. They kept the name, the box stayed the same, and even the visible portion of the bullet in the case looked right but some guys said they pulled and sectioned the bullets and it wasn't a real TBBC. I never confirmed this myself but it may be worth looking into.

Barnes bullets have somewhat of a reputation for not expanding except at close range/high velocities. It seems to be pretty random and will expand properly most of the time but on occasion it acts like a FMJ.
 
For deer and moose you're paying a premium to only be shooting at 100 yards. I'd personally say just buy Remington factory 405 gr SP and save a bunch. For deer I'd say maybe Federal blue box 300 JHP and it would do the trick for moose also with a little flatter trajectory (not that it matters with the .45-70)...
 
There is no 'best' anything. Your rifle will likely shoot one better than the others, but if you don't reload, you have to try 'em all to find the ammo your rifle shoots best. Any 250 or 300 will kill anything just as dead as the other.
 
HSM has some hot loads too. All my .45-70 shooting has been done with handloads, but I saw their bear loads in Cabelas not too long ago and wished I hadn't sold my .45-70.
 
The HSM bear loads would be really excessive for deer or moose. Hard cast bullets don't really expand so you're going to have a relatively small wound channel (relative to a JSP in the same cartridge). At almost $3/round I wouldn't use it as regular hunting ammo. If I was hunting a grizzly, sure, but it seems silly to use it on a deer (moose, maybe, but still quite a stretch).

I really want to try out a soft cast paper patched bullet around 1500fps for deer. Can't buy any that I know of easily so it's a handload only kind of thing.
 
The hard cast don't really need to expand much if any in those cases as the large, flat nose on those bullets cause tremendous damage. My standard load when using a .45-70 was a still handload with 405 grain soft points. Hit like a truck. Even a slow factory load with the same bullet would be a deadly hunting round for deer in the thick stuff.
 
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